First Look

During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, the country was divided by the Republican faction who was supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico versus the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco and supported by Germany, Italy, Portugal, and even the Vatican. Germany was rebuilding its nation from the aftermath of the First World War and it deployed volunteers from the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht under the banner of the Condor Legion to regain combat experience and evaluate its weapons systems in action.

AK Interactive has released their first two kits, both of which come from Eduard tooling. This release is the Bf 109E-1/E-3 previously released by Eduard in their Legion Condor kit. The kit is molded in gray styrene and presented on five parts trees plus one tree of clear parts and a small fret of Eduard color-printed photo-etch parts.

This release offers the following features and options:

Choice of Bf 109E-1 or Bf 109E-3

Detailed cockpit (instrument panel detail using decals)

Crew restraints provided using color-printed photo-etch

Positionable canopy

Detailed engine

Detailed gun deck

Positionable cowling panels

Positionable flaps

Positionable ailerons

Positionable rudder

Markings are provided to replicate one of the following six subjects:

Bf 109E-3, 6-91, J/88, Barcience, Spain, 1939

Bf 109E-3, 6-92, 1. J/88, Leon, Spain, 1939

Bf 109E-3, 6-111, 2. J/88, La Cenia, Spain, 1939

Bf 109E-1, 6-123, 3. J/88, Leon, Spain, 1939

Bf 109E-3, 6-104, 2. Grupo 25, Logrono-Agoncillo, Spain, 1939

Bf 109E-3, 6-126, 2. Grupo 25, Barcelona, Spain, 1940

The decals in this set are printed by Cartograf and I like how the instrument panel colors and details look as nice (if not nicer) than the color-printed photo-etch versions. Even so, the addition of the color-printed photo-etch pilot restraints rounds out this kit while keeping the skill levels needed to build this model reasonable.

AK Interactive has expanded yet again, starting as a weathering products producer, then adding color-matched paints, books, videos, decals, and now kits. Let's hope we'll see more kits coming from AK Interactive in the near future!

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